Pocono News Section

Fire at High Rise Apartment Building

Fire at High Rise Apartment Building - Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 11:59AM EST

Reported by: Mark Hiller
Thursday, Jan 21, 2010 @ 11:59am EST

WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY -- Fire crews here worked to put out flames at the South View Manor apartment building, after a fire started around 5:30am Thursday.

Two sixth-floor apartments were damaged, and puffs of smoke were still coming from the scene two hours after the fire started.

Kathleen Wright says she was inside ironing clothing and smoking a cigarette around 5:30am. The wall outside her apartment was clearly charred.

"I remember my leg bumping the ironing board. I didn't think about the cigarette falling or nothing," said Wright, who says she accidentally started the fire. "Evidently the cigarette rolled underneath the bed and I seen smoke coming from underneath the bed."

She and her 28-year-old son, Jay, tried putting out the fire on their own but couldn't. Firefighters were called and worked quickly to get nearly 100 residents out safely. One man was trapped on a sixth-floor balcony, and an aerial ladder was needed to bring him down. Now, the American Red Cross is stepping in.

"We're going to be working with the Wilkes-Barre City Housing Authority to determine if there are other vacant apartments, which apartments can be returned to this week, which ones will be a longer term evacuation and we're going to work one at a time, one apartment at a time," said Amy Gabriel of the American Red Cross.